During the manufacturing of a vehicle, “Body in White” (BIW) refers to a stage where the metallic components of the vehicle have been welded together, before the other subsequent parts and sub-assemblies are added. Maintaining the overall torsional stiffness of the body in white structure of a vehicle is an extremely critical and difficult attribute to meet. The demand for improved vehicle torsional stiffness has significantly increased over time. Further, for vehicles without package trays, maintaining a specific minimum torsional stiffness is a difficult task.
For vehicles manufactured recently, there is a demand for light weight support structures that can significantly improve torsional stiffness and provide more package space. The major contributing factors towards the torsional stiffness are the rear openings, the upper and lower rear joints, etc., where suitable support structures will be positioned and mounted.
Many kinds of mechanisms and support structures have been deployed to improve the rigidity (stiffness) and load transferring virtue of the side structure of vehicles. Some of these structures are disposed in the upper side portion of the vehicle, between the roof panel and the upper portion of the side pillar of the vehicle. Limitations in the assembly process restrict the regions where such support structures can be disposed. Further, some of these structures are relatively heavy, which is not generally preferred in current vehicles.
Considering these problems and other shortcomings in the art, there exists a need for a mechanism or structure that can provide localized reinforcement to certain portions of a vehicle, and substantially improve the torsional stiffness of the body in white structure of the vehicle.